Let's grab some cmos chips and connect them in ways their creators never dreamed. Redefine what music/art is in the process my fellow geeks. I hope these ramblings offer some fun ways on making cool sounds for effects or full blown musical pieces. Now go on, multiply!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

New Lunetta! AKA Mastodon!

I have returned from the other side of our solar system with many a tale to tell. Let's get to the nitty gritty: I am building another Lunetta (codename Mastodon) made from parts and ics that have been almost forgotten/disgarded from other builds. The goal was to recycle and make the most of found objects to make something new.

I'll give greater detail over the cmos used but here is the general idea: 5 oscillators made with one 40106. 3 of them have cap switches (big and small). 2 different divider chips (4040 and 4020) which will give me many ways to clock other ic's or be used as octaves for the other important ic (the 4051).

There is also the pitch track 4046 which is as important to me as a mixer is to my lunettas. I may tweak the 4046 to use some of the other outputs like pins 1 and 2, but that's dependent on time :).

There are a few logic gates as well as a 4031 and 4029 counter. Lastly, the outputs get fed to a four input passive mixer. This variety of chips should make for some glitchy, synthy fun! More soon!

I want to stress that using cmos to make music/beautiful or atonal, is not impossible. Find your power pin and ground pin. Put 50k-100k resistors on the inputs. Add LEDS if you want.

Wire up the ins and outs to jacks, nuts and bolts and make a panel to hold them. Power each panel to a central power hub and run off a battery or wall wart. Don't just settle for an Atari Punk Console. Make your own beast!